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Rh courtier to Julia Domna. when he censured, as we have seen he did, the philosophy and religion of Egypt? It appears that jokes had been rife in Alexandria respecting the daughter of the priest of Emesa, who had become an empress and a female philosopher. However, we cannot but believe that the real character of the Pagan Christ was sadly metamorphosed as it passed through the hands of Philostratus. Its interest as a channel of instruction having failed, it will be unnecessary to discuss seriously the historical value of the biography. It is more than evident that when people invent, as Philostratus has invented when he speaks of a country to which he thinks none of his readers will follow him, it is very easy to give the reins to one's imagination in a description of events which occurred a century ago. There is one detail especially which indicates a great amount of shameless effrontery, inasmuch as the truth of the matter must have been well known at the court of Septimius Severus—I mean the description which he gives of Babylon, as though the city were still in its full